


Spill the Beans

by colazitron



Series: Fic Advent 2012 [1]
Category: Union J (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2017-11-26 09:34:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/649155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh is popular. George isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spill the Beans

Josh is popular.

He doesn’t mean to be a jerk about it or anything, but there’s just no way around it. For some reason people just seem to like him. They think he’s pretty and they somehow look to him to give them cues about how to behave in situations. Not everyone, of course, but he’s just got natural leadership qualities. Pretending he doesn’t isn’t going to help anyone.

So, Josh is popular and people generally like him and the fact that he does info tech for one of his A-levels and sings in the school choir is somehow not detrimental to that fact. It’s weird. By all the unwritten rules of school society, he should be "a geek", but he’s not. Maybe, Josh thinks, it’s because he’s just _not_. So he likes computers. They are pretty fascinating and you can do some massively amazing things with them. And birds are completely into boys who can sing, so why wouldn’t he be in the choir? Especially when their teacher keeps giving him solos.

Josh is popular and he likes it that way. He's not going to pretend that's not the case.

Now George... George isn't popular. Josh would love to say that he's also not _un_ popular, that he just drifts through school without anyone paying him any attention, but until the beginning of college a few months ago George was very ... noticeable. Size-wise. Josh feels terrible even just thinking about it because George was never clinically obese or anything like that, but he was definitely more than just a little chubby. He'd made a really easy target for bullies and so bullied is exactly what he'd been for years. Not that it’s stopped now, but it has lessened (and isn’t that just twisted).

Josh would love to say that he stood up for George and chased the bullies away and made it all better, because he could see just how lovely and beautiful he was and didn't care about his chubby bits, but as much as he hates to think about it, he hadn't really known who George was, or cared to find out, until he... Well. Until he apparently spent an entire summer training away what seemed about 90% of his body fat and came back looking like... like he does now. Which is really, really gorgeous. The girls have taken to calling him "Gorgeous George" in their whispers about him instead of "that fat Shelley boy (ew)" and Josh would love to be someone who could say "I liked you then, I like you now, I just want you to be happy", but he can't.

He remembers thinking "who is _that_?" in an entirely too pleased tone when George had come to college the first day. He'd gone to secondary with him for years, but he hadn't recognised him. The fact that a lot of people hadn't doesn't really make him feel any better about it. All George did was lose some (alright, a lot of) weight, change his hair a bit and dress a little more fashionably. (Put like that it sounds like a lot, but still. You've known someone for years, you feel like you should be able to recognise them through a little make-over.) He really was quite gorgeous and when he walked into choir rehearsal with Ella a few days later, Josh had felt the tell-tale fluttering of butterfly wings in his stomach.

George has dimples now. And the sweetest, most pinch-able apple cheeks. His lips are plump and pink and his eyes would be too big for his face if they were any larger but as they are they're just the perfect embodiment of doe eyes. Josh never thought of himself as someone who'd go for the sweet and innocent looking type, but there he was. Trying not to make it so obvious that he was checking George Shelley out, just as the entire sixth form had done over the past couple of days.

It's been months now. It's almost Christmas and Josh still doesn't feel comfortable with his attraction to George. Every time Josh looks at him and thinks he's fit he feels like he's betraying the fourteen year old George he hasn't even noticed, just because he wasn't what Josh thinks of as fit. He feels sleazy for wanting to run his hands through George's hair or kiss his pretty lips; like he hasn't earned it. He knows, or, well, he thinks, that it's not his fault that he wasn't attracted to George before. No one can hate him for not being attracted to chubby people just the same way they couldn't for him not being attracted to beards. Or bald heads. But still it feels like he should've been. Like he's being shallow for only now having started to talk to George every now and then. But then again - attraction is shallow, isn't it? And the fact that his attraction was the only reason he started talking to George doesn't mean that he appreciates his sense of humour, his conversation and - reluctantly - his cuddles any less. He likes to think they've built a tentative but genuine friendly relationship over the past few months of choir practice and the occasional study session. The only class they have together is English, but they both find studying in company easier to do, even if the other party is studying for something else completely. And being able to explain something to someone who's not even taking the class in a way that makes them understand it, is a lovely test to see if _you've_ understood it.

Josh sighs and stares down at the text book he's supposed to be reading for a homework assignment, trying to shake the thoughts. Really, he should've taken sociology with how his mind's going recently. He's sure he's read this page four times already but he still has absolutely no clue what it actually says, so he reluctantly grabs his marker pen, takes a deep breath and starts from the top.

"Hi, Joshie."

Or he would if the object of most of his recent thoughts hadn't decided to fall down into the seat across from him at that exact moment.

"Hey, George," he says and smiles at him, involuntary and genuine.

"What are you doing?" George asks.

"Trying to read the text for my next info tech assignment, but I can't concentrate for shit."

George hums sympathetically and fiddles with his fingers, not even pretending to get out his notebooks and start studying himself. Josh reads another two lines and then heaves a deep sigh, giving up. He slams the book shut a bit too loudly for inside the library and looks up at George.

"Wanna go get a coffee? This is just not happening right now."

George's eyes still do that thing where he's surprised that people other than Ella voluntarily want to spend time with him and Josh wishes there were something he could do to chase that off. He thinks it probably just takes time.

"Yeah, sure. You know me, I'll always agree to coffee."

Josh grins at him and stands to pack up his things. They leave in companionable silence, passing a group of giggling girls trailing them with their eyes. Josh is somewhat used to it, takes pride in his appearance really, but George rolls his eyes when he catches that new nickname people have been calling him.

"Does it bother you?" Josh asks without thinking.

"What?"

"The nickname. 'Gorgeous George'."

George shrugs like it's not a topic he likes discussing, but then he throws Josh a sideways glance and speaks anyway.

"Hate it."

"Why?"

"Because. I'm just George. I'm not Fat George and I'm not Gorgeous George. Or if anything, I'm both of them. Monkeys are my favourite animals now and they were then. I was a nerd about Harry Potter and I am now. Ella was my best friend then and she still is now." He shrugs again and Josh finds his attention zeroed in on him like he wishes it had been on his notebook. George gives him a thin smile before he goes on.

"Most people who call me that aren't interested in _George_ now that I'm Gorgeous George anymore than they were when I was Fat George. You know some girl actually told me to be grateful anyone even wants to go out with me now when I turned her down? Like I was obligated to say yes just because I was fat before and no one wanted me then? It's absurd."

"I'm sorry," Josh says, like it’s being pushed out of him. In a way, it is. He’s been holding this in for a while.

"For what?" George is only confused.

"I don't know. For not... noticing you before?"

"Why?" George asks, his brows furrowing a little like they so rarely do.

"Well. I like spending time with you and I feel like a shallow arsehole that we never have before."

Josh doesn't think he's getting across what he means very well. Judging by George's face, he agrees. Possibly, Josh thinks, it's because he's not entirely sure what the hell he means himself. George stops walking and fixes him with a hard stare.

"I don't want your pity, Josh."

"It's not pity!" Of that, at least, Josh is certain.

"Well, then, newsflash. This isn't one-sided. It's not like I followed you around like a puppy and you pushed me away all the time. I never tried to befriend you either, did I?"

"Well, no, but-"

George cuts him off with a vicious look.

"No. No buts. If you want to get into it, I thought you were probably an arrogant jerk, strutting around school, holding court like you fucking owned the place. We had nothing in common, Josh. There's boatloads of people in secondary you never talked to and you don't feel guilty for that, do you? I sure as hell don't."

Josh is stunned into silence then because he's sure he's never heard George speak like that before. It seems so entirely out of character for him to be so... harsh. What he said is true though and Josh guesses he really doesn't know George all that well yet anyway, so how would he know what's out of character for George? It just really, really makes him want to find out. He blinks at George a bit uselessly and George sighs, the hard lines leaving his face and being replaced with the gentler friendliness Josh is used to.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not angry at you or anything. We all have shallow reasons for starting or refusing relationships. No can actually _see_ the character of a person, so what else would we go on. Really, if you think about it, I was worse than you. You just thought I was fat. I _was_. I thought you were arrogant."

"I was," Josh says, because, yeah, he probably was. It makes George laugh as well, which is always a bonus. George bumps their shoulders together and smiles at him. It feels a bit like absolution.

"So can we get that coffee now? I'm done with discussing our shady past. I rather like our present."

"Yeah, me too," Josh says and lets George ramble on about how he can't understand that Josh never read the Harry Potter books and _of course_ he's not gonna get into it from the _movies_ , they were lacking all the really good stuff. Josh teases him about it and refuses to give an inch until George's cheeks flush with indignation. He can't help it. George is really pretty like that. Not leaning over to press his lips to the heated skin is slowly becoming an issue and so, sipping his coffee and listening to George go on about how Cedric Diggory's only function was to be a plot device and give Harry more reasons to feel crap about himself, whether he was alive or dead, he decides that he's going to ask George out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, after all.

He's not usually someone for romantic gestures, prefers to be straight-forward about what he wants, but there's something about George that makes him want to be just a little silly. Also, the fact that he drew George's name out of the hat for the Secret Santa their choir teacher insists on is just far too good an opportunity to pass up. So, even though he wants to hold George's hand more every day and if the looks Ella starts giving him every now and then are any indication, she, at least, has noticed, he waits.

The last choir practice before Christmas is always fun. They muck about singing carols in little clusters all over the room, mostly. Someone always brings biscuits and mince pies and eggnog and it's really more of a party than anything else. Everyone's fluttering about the room finding their Secret Santas, who really aren't all that secret after all, and the atmosphere is generally happy. Josh gets a lovely assortment of chocolates from a girl he's not talked to much inside the choir room and even less outside, but he thanks her anyway.

"Lemme see!" George demands, bounding over from where he'd been inspecting all the hair accessory Ella had gotten from a friend. Well. Everyone in choir is Ella's friend really. She's so likeable, it's really impossible not to adore her, even if she outshines them all as soon as she starts singing. No one would ever think to be jealous of Ella, she's just too lovely for it. There's a hair clip in George's hair with a sparkly mistletoe on it Josh snorts when he catches Ella's wink his way.

"Pretty, that," he says and gestures towards George's hair. George rolls his eyes.

"What Ella wants, Ella gets. Now show me, what you got."

Josh hands over the chocolate and watches George inspect it like he has any idea what he's doing. Or really like either of them care beyond the fact that it's chocolate and one can really never have too much of it.

"Ooh! Crème de champagne!" George then says, his smile widening. "Can I have one of those?"

"Sure," Josh shrugs. "What did you get anyway?"

"Nothing yet. They're being very mysterious." George tears the plastic off the box and carefully selects the chocolate he likes best before popping it into his mouth.

"Well, I guess I can tell you now. I got you. That chocolate was your present."

He's quite proud of the straight face he manages to keep on, even as a gift bag dangles from his left hand and George knows that it's for his Secret Santa, since he's refused to let George have a peek for the whole day. Nevertheless there is a moment where George stops chewing and stares at him like he believes him.

"No, it's not," he then says, grin back in place and reaches for the gift bag. "Now gimme."

"You're so demanding." Josh pretends to be annoyed but hands over the bag with a smile on his face and a lump in his throat. Here goes nothing then. George steers them over to the side of the room where all the chairs are piled up and sits down on one of them, carefully setting down Josh's chocolates before undoing the ribbon that's holding the bag closed. He purposely looks elsewhere as he reaches in and tries to feel out what it is. His brows furrow a little in concentration.

"What the hell is that?" he asks. Josh wiggles his eyebrows.

"Take it out and see."

"My, Mr. Cuthbert, how forward," George grins and Josh rolls his eyes. George does pull his present out of the bag then though, producing a small, fluffy stuffed monkey, wearing a Santa hat and holding a present.

"A monkey!" he says, joyfully and wraps Josh in a hug. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Josh says, still fluttery and nervous, because there's something to it George hasn't seen yet, but he's sure-

"Can you actually open that? Ooh, you can!" George says, poking at the present sown to the monkey's hands (paws?). There's a small sheet of paper in it, folded several times to fit inside. George looks up at him curiously and then back down to the monkey. He smoothes the sheet of paper out over his knee and Josh watches him anxiously as he takes in the words unmistakably in Josh's hand writing.

_Dear George,_  
I like you.  
Will you go out with me? Please cirlce:  
yes no.

It's childish, but Josh feels childish with how giddy he is in his crush on George so it seemed fitting at the time. He's not sure now.

"Have you got a pen then?" George asks and he's smiling, so Josh dares to hope a little, but still wordlessly reaches for the pen in his pocket and hands it to George with clammy fingers. George makes a show of not letting Josh see what he circles and Josh is sure that if it were "no", if George were to turn him down, he'd do it with his own words and not Josh's stupid little note, but he only releases the breath he's been nervously holding in, when George hands him the note and he sees "yes" circled and the added _I like you too_ in George's own handwriting. Josh grins down at the note and then up at George, a little dizzy with relief and happiness and folds the note back up, putting it back inside the monkey's present. He shoots George a tentative look and laces his fingers through George's hand that's not holding the monkey.

"So... coffee?" he says. George giggles a little.

"Throw in some cake and you've got yourself a deal."

"Alright," Josh says easily. "It's a date."

"It's a date."

George bites his lip like he's trying not to smile quite so big and his cheeks pop out. It'd probably still be a little too early to lean over and kiss them, but Josh holds George's hand as much as he can all day. It's not just a date, it's a _lovely_ date; the first in a series that Josh doesn't plan on ending anytime soon.

**The End**


End file.
